Interview with Marvin Coleby: co-founder and CEO of Raise

 Marvin is the co-founder and CEO of Raise, a startup that simplifies the fundraising process for early-stage tech founders and their investors.  He is a technology and securities lawyer that worked at Dentons in the global Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies, and previously completed his thesis on Pan-African and Asian economic trade at both the McGill University Faculty of Law and Graduate Center of the University of Hong Kong. Marvin graduated from McGill Faculty of Law, has served as National President of the Black Law Students’ Association of McGill and was Concordia’s Undergraduate Student of the Year.  Outside of work, he is a part-time martial artist. 
1. What are you currently doing?

I am currently the co-founder and CEO of Raise (getraise.io). We’re a software company that simplifies the fundraising process for early-stage technology founders and investors (individual and institutional). 

 Well, that’s the short pitch - but since we’re all lawyers, here’s a bit more about how it works. Our technology creates legally effective digital versions of share certificates for companies in line with the securities regulations of some of the fastest-growing African countries. We’re primarily focused on the African continent across about 15 industries. We operate in 4 African countries. What we’re effectively doing is creating a secure digital repository for corporate structures across an entire continent. Eventually, we’ll be opening up these companies for investment from the diaspora. 

I previously worked at Dentons on Bay Street, where I focused a lot of my energy in the Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies group. I was a part of deals across Toronto, Silicon Valley and New York, led client files and drafted contracts for companies between seed stage and Series D. 

I focused specifically on Venture Technology because I wanted to understand something simple: how did North America build its technology industries? And more importantly, what can we learn to build our own infrastructure for countries and young people in the Caribbean, Africa and emerging markets? The answer was simple: Silicon Valley figured out how to fund early stage tech companies with the right instruments, structures and timing. I understood that we could create our own infrastructure and similarly grow indigenous tech companies, industries, jobs… and eventually a Pan-African middle class.

Raise was born during that time, and since has grown to what it is today. 

I am also a founder of an NGO called the African Digital Asset Foundation (adaf.io), we create open source technologies that support digital trade across Pan-African communities. It is a project supported by leaders of the Inter-American Development Bank and African Union.

2.. Did you always see yourself going to law school?

Yes! I always wanted to be an international litigator. I studied post-colonial theory in Concordia University, and have always been driven to find ways to reverse the painful legacy of colonialism on our countries and people. 

Becoming a lawyer meant understanding the legal structures that created and maintained colonial power dynamics. Eventually that led me to the world of international arbitration and trade - where I focused on how to use the law to create new policies that increase regional trade, and therefore decrease our countries’ economic dependence on ‘developed’ countries.

Eventually though, I learned quickly that the only way of doing that would be to create infrastructure for the education and economic independence of young people. And that led me to understand that technology could do that. If we could build platforms that can quantifiably increase the amount of jobs created for young people in the Caribbean, Africa and Pan-African communities, then we could be rapidly growing our economies with indigenous companies.

As a result, I focused a lot of my legal research on securities, corporate structure and venture technology financing. I wanted to understand what the legal grounding of that world were… and how we could create our own. 

3. Were there challenges or barriers you faced in law school or in your professional career?

Transitioning into securities was extremely difficult for me. I never took an interest in corporate law, share structures, and the world of securities. I was always driven towards human rights, policy, advocacy. Moving into numbers and more quantifiable aspects of the law was really tough at first. It started towards the end of my McGill degree, and continued when I articled at Dentons. When I articled on Bay Street, Dentons was the perfect environment to understand how securities worked both locally, as well as regionally. And I quickly transitioned into an entirely world of securities, but with a razor-sharp focus on how securities could be re-shaped to create Pan-African economic independence. 

McGill is a great school with a great reputation for being all around, perhaps most strongly in its work around human rights, policy and advocacy. As a result it created the educational environment for me to understand the importance of progressing societies forward with law. Dentons allowed me to add a very tangible trade skill in securities on top of that human rights grounding. The result is a career, mind and startup (Raise) that is geared towards creating digital infrastructure for securities across Pan-African communities all around the world. 

4. What is your greatest success?

That’s a good question, I’m not sure. I’d have to say Raise. Building a startup from scratch is probably the hardest thing I’ve done and will ever do. Sleepless nights, many nights on couches and on the floor with little to no money. My greatest success is never giving up on the vision and company, even in the darkest and roughest moments, and continuing to believe in the vision for a better world for our people. I always stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, and we continue to move forward. 

5. What advice would you give to current black law students?

Step out of the norm. The legal system we’ve found ourselves in wasn’t built to accommodate people of color - and therefore I’m of the opinion that we are best placed to take non-traditional paths to build our careers. So, take the risks, change tactics and follow the dreams you have. You don’t have to fit the traditional career model of a lawyer in Canadian society. Build something new, innovate.

We need you to create a space for all people of color in the legal profession. Don’t stop working until you do.

Entrevue réalisée par Anne-Raphaëlle Bolya, 2L